When they got back to the common room, it was buzzing. The boys were huddled on the couch in front of the fire, working on their potions essays. "Hi," she sat down in between them, smiling.
"You look in a good mood for someone who's spent a whole evening with my brothers," Ron laughed.
"It wasn't so bad. They can be civil at times I suppose," she shrugged. "So how's the assignment coming along?"
"Not good," harry muttered. "I only have 15 inches. how does he expect 30 inches about the properties and uses of asphodel?"
"Harry, it's not difficult. Asphodel tons of uses. Just pick one and elaborate."
"Easy for you to say. You're brilliant," Ron rolled his eyes as he flipped through another book on potions ingredients.
"Here," she pointed toward a section of the page he was skimming. "The draught of living death. You could write tons on that. There's several documented cases of the dangers of it in our advanced potion making book," she pulled it from his stack on books. "See?"
"Bloody brilliant," Ron grinned.
"I'm going off to bed. Get this done so you can enjoy Hogsmeade this weekend," she smiled as she walked off toward her dormitory. When she got inside, Lavender was squealing with Parvati about the ball.
"Hermione come sit with us! We're deciding what we're going to do with our hair!" Lavender smiled. She was pleased when Hermione sat at the end of the bed, though with some hesitation. "What do you think? Should I wear it up or down?" she mimicked the way she would wear it up before letting it fall freely around her shoulders again. "I think Parvati should curl hers, don't you?" She was talking so fast, Hermione could barely get a word in to excuse herself from the conversation. Instead she just nodded. "How are you doing yours?"
"I don't know actually," she frowned a bit. She had learned a bit of makeup and hair skills from Ginny, but nothing impressive. It hadn't occurred to her that she would have to do something to her hair. But of course she would. It couldn't stay the way it normally was. Merlin, what was this dance doing to her? She never cared about any of this. But with all the boys drooling over the Beauxbaton girls it would be nice to look pretty.
"Oh, Hermione can we practice on your hair? I'd sure love to work with it! You have so much!" Pavati smiled hopefully.
Hermione thought of about 50 different reasons to say no, but finally sighed and said yes. It wasn't worth getting them mad at her as they always were when she dismissed them. And perhaps she could learn something on how to do it herself. She regretted the decision as soon as the girls summoned their hair products and started groping at her mane. She exhaled slowly and told herself to be nice as she let them work on her curls.
After about 20 minutes of them yanking at her head, they both grinned. "So beautiful!" Parvati was proud of her work.
"Go look in the mirror!" Lavender practically yelled at her.
Hermione got up slowly and walked toward the mirror. She could hardly believe she was looking at her hair. It was swept up beautifully. And so sleek and smooth. "It looks-" she stopped and could hardly believe she was about to say it. "Good. Really good. Thank you," she smiled lightly at them.
"Are you going dress shopping tomorrow?"
"No, I can't. I have detention again," she sighed. At least her mum had sent money to Molly to get her a dress when she got Ginny's. She was glad her mum and Molly got on so well.
"With the Weasley twins, right?" Lavender smiled dreamily. "I would love to spend a weekend with them."
"They're so dreamy," Parvati giggled.
Hermione simply laughed. It wasn't often she heard anyone refer to the twins as dreamy. "They're amusing enough."
"All the quidditch. It's been so good to them," Lavender added, laughing.
"You talk like their some sort of gods," Hermione shook her head.
"Well, they're no Cedric Diggory," Parvati quickly replied. "But of course, as the boys in our house go, they're certainly the best looking. A shame they're so into their jokes though," she sighed.
"Yeah, those awful candies they sell. But I heard their love potions are wonderful."
"Love potions are almost always disastrous," Hermione replied casually.
"They certainly bring some memorable moments though," Lavender smiled. "Come on, Hermione. You can't possibly tell us you wouldn't snog one of them if you got the chance."
Hermione laughed. "I have no desire to snog either of the Weasley twins. I need to work on my essay before bed," she headed toward her bed and unpacked her trunk. "Thank you again for making my hair look so good," she smiled as she down down and closed her curtains. Though the two were not her favorite people in the world, it was nice to have a conversation with girls every once in a while. She pulled out her book and began writing her essay.
When she went downstairs into the common room the next morning, she saw the twins waiting for her. "Good morning," she smiled.
"Morning, love," George smiled.
"Sleep well?" Fred grinned as he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Quite well. So are you ready to go down for breakfast?"
"Absolutely," they replied, grinning.
"You do realize we have to help prepare it," she looked at them, amused.
"Of course. But we also get to eat it," George replied.
"Breakfast is our favorite," Fred added excited.
"All food is your favorite," she rolled her eyes, smiling as she walked out of the common room, the twins in tow.